Hi again,

Todd and I spent 8+ hours at the U of M today, so I hope you don’t mind another update so soon …

As I mentioned yesterday, Todd has been having severe abdominal pain since last Friday, as well as back pain for the past month or so. It hasn’t been constant, but it’s been flaring up every afternoon/evening recently and it’s been making him feel pretty miserable. Last night was no exception, and when the Vicodin failed to relieve the pain after several hours, we considered going to the ER around 1:00 a.m. but ultimately decided to wait until this morning. After answering numerous detailed questions, a physical examination, an abdominal x-ray (which ruled out blood clots or a spontaneous bleed like the one he had in his elbow), a check of Todd’s blood work (including his Arixtra levels), and an ultrasound, here’s what we learned:

1. There is thickening of the gallbladder wall, dilation of a bile duct, and sludge within the gallbladder consistent with the presence of gallstones; and

2. Todd’s liver enzyme levels are 5-6 times higher than normal and there are lesions on the liver consistent with “focal fatty sparing” (i.e. fatty liver disease).

Based on these findings, Todd was told to stop the Sutent (a day shy of his scheduled 1-week break), avoid all fatty foods, and abstain from alcohol for the foreseeable future. So that sucks, especially with Christmas around the corner. At this point, we are supposed to manage the gallstones with diet and watch for worsening pain, fever/chills, and jaundice and use Oxycodone for ongoing pain. Todd could theoretically have gallbladder surgery in the future if things get worse, but he really isn’t a surgical candidate (due to being on chemo and blood thinners), so we’re hoping that won’t be necessary. We are meeting with Dr. Skubitz again on December 30^th and will ask some additional questions then.

On the one hand, we are relieved the news isn’t worse. Given the number of images the tech collected after numerous consultations with the radiologist, we knew they had found something and we feared the worst, so this news allowed us to exhale a bit.

But on the way home, we were upset. Sure, this might be manageable for the average person, but we really don’t need additional complications right now. Todd is already worn down and he feels lousy enough just with chemo; he doesn’t need something else making him miserable. Plus, it just doesn’t seem fair that Todd has to give up good food and alcohol, which are some of the only normal things he has left, when he has already lost so many of the things he enjoys to this disease and its treatment. I’m also worried about keeping Todd’s weight up without the help of fatty foods; it’s hard enough with all the chemo side effects already. And it remains to be seen whether Todd will be able to go back on chemo at all. So much for getting through the holidays without any worries!

I’m sorry if I’m coming off too negative; it’s just hard not to get frustrated when new problems are constantly arising. Thanks for letting me vent a little . . . I always feel lucky to have this website to record new information like this.

Hope you all have a very Merry Christmas!

- Karen

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